Tessa
by Beth6787
Summary: A coda to "Timeless". Just who was Tessa Omond and why was she willing to sacrifice her life with Chakotay to resurrect his past...?


Beth6787

2 January y

Tessa

A coda to "Timeless". Just who was Tessa Omond and why was she willing to sacrifice her life with Chakotay to resurrect his past...?

It was December 24th 2382 and high time to draw a line under the whole sorry saga.

Admiral Brand had been given the unenviable task of notifying the only two survivors, Ensign Harry Kim and the former Commander Chakotay. As Chair of the Investigative & Salvage Committee for the last two years he had gone above and beyond the call of duty. Hauled out of retirement - having been an old friend of the late Admiral Edward Janeway - he had so wanted to recover the wreckage and remains of the crew. At least he could give his late friend's daughter a decent send off and a permanent memorial. He knew, before Alynna Nechayev passed the job over to him, that they were all long since dead. If it had been humanly possible for a rescue in the early days : then Nechayev would have been the one to pull it off. Now he needed to formally wrap things up. A private meeting with Chakotay and Kim before a short, formal press release. He hit the Comm connect to the outer reception area "Lieutenant Foster, please escort our guests through to the conference room. I will be joining you shortly." On days like this he was grateful for the lifting of the burdens of responsibility that retirement inevitably entailed...

—

Not again ! As the newest recruit to the Federation News Service Diplomatic Team the job had been landed on her desk. Of course it had. 1800 hours on Christmas Eve, who else would still be around and available to lug over to Starfleet HQ to take a statement from some retired Admiral about a ship that had been missing for six...no, make that... eleven years! The U.S.S. Voyager. Firstly it had been reported missing in action in the Badlands in 2371, assumed lost with all hands in 2373 then suddenly discovered during 2375 in the Delta Quadrant due to a message received via some ancient alien technology and Starfleet's Midas Array. A couple of years of intermittent messages were received then all went quiet for six months before a badly damaged shuttle, containing two former crew members, limped into Earth orbit. There followed an incredible story about some new faster than warp speed technology...What had they called it? She shuffled through the pile of old reports. Ah yes, a slipstream drive. Apparently it was highly experimental and very unstable. And it had - inevitably - failed. The mother ship had been following the shuttle and then been lost from sensors. The shuttle managed to navigate the currents and was thrown out only a few parsecs from home but Voyager was no where to be seen. In the six years since, Starfleet had carried out an extensive search, at enormous expense - given the paucity of resources since the end of the Dominion War - to no avail. And now they were formally drawing a line under the whole, sorry saga.

It was her job to record the official statement from Admiral Brand and see whether she could get comments from either of the two survivors. Really a total non story at this point but the sooner she got started the sooner she could get home to her new apartment and put her feet up for a couple of days. She had only just finished unpacking and had had no time to actually appreciate the place that she had worked so hard to afford. ...with that, Tessa Omond clipped on her official I.D. and grabbed her vid recorder heading out into the bitter cold and the last minute shopping throng.

—

Admiral Brand made his closing remarks to an almost empty chamber. Nechayev had attended of course, as a diplomatic courtesy, and the two grim faced survivors of the Voyager crew. Barring the four of them it was just herself and one assistant to help with the bulkier equipment. As Admiral Brand turned to step down from the podium the younger of the two Voyagers started to shout "Admiral please ! We can't just give up! Not when we don't know their final resting place...we can't just leave them ...out there..." The older man, Commander Chakotay - wasn't it - put a hand on the Ensign's shoulder to restrain him.

"Harry. Enough! They have done all they can. Come on. It's time to go home." He nodded at Admiral Brand and exchanged a pained but sympathetic glance with Alynna Nechayev. It was she who, taking in the scene, turned to Harry Kim "Ensign. It's been a very long and trying day. There is no need for you to remain on duty over the holidays. You are relieved for fourteen days. Time the time to rest...to heal..."

Harry was inconsolable and inarticulate. He mumbled something, incoherent to herself - better delete that from the recording when I get back to the office Tessa thought - but Chakotay smiled his thanks to the Admiral. "Ensign Kim can join me for a few days. I'll take care of him." With that he put his arm around Kim's shoulder and they headed out into the night air.

Tessa agonised for a moment. Now did not seem in the least appropriate timing but, then again, after today the story would be as dead and buried as that ship somewhere out there amongst the stars. It was now or never. Sometimes she wondered what on earth had possessed her to take up this line of work. She left her assistant to pack up and return the equipment to the office and ran out into the night before she lost sight of them.

"Commander Chakotay, Ensign Kim. Please wait. Just a moment." Chakotay turned angrily towards her. "Not now. You people have your official statement. We have nothing to add. Please just leave us in peace."

She was about to capitulate until the younger man looked up through puffy eyes and a tear streaked face "But we are not at peace are we Chakotay? And we never will be now! Not with Voyager...our whole family ...abandoned forever out there..." he studied Tessa's face intently. "You want the real story, then I will tell it to you. I want the whole truth printed for everyone to know. It was all my fault..." as his voice began to waiver Chakotay just looked at her and shook his head. She understood. Nothing further would be gained of this tonight. But she saw from Chakotay's face - the journalistic instinct , if you like - that there was more to the Voyager saga. Maybe ...she went to shake Chakotay's hand and slipped her card into his jacket pocket as she did so. "Thank you for your time. If ever..." he had seen what she had done and silently conveyed his understanding. Tessa watched as they walked to the public terminal then shimmered away as the beam took them to wherever substituted as 'home' these days.

—

February 2383.

Harry Kim had been back at his desk for six weeks now. He knew he had to make more of an effort or risk being demoted from the Astrometrics Research Team altogether. Not that he really cared a jot about any of their 'research' these days. It was all so rudimentary. What they discovered in a year Seven could have deduced in an hour...if only she was here...and of course, she would be -along with everyone else - if it was not for his incompetence! Still, he had made just enough effort to get this post in the first place because he would have access to the best mapping equipment available to Starfleet and therefore the best chance of finding Voyager. Obviously he had to be discreet, use the holodecks in his spare time to run simulations, but he was getting closer. He could feel it. ...

But he knew his official work had been slipping recently. He needed to focus, just enough for his bosses to think he had something worthwhile to contribute to their program. He was just reviewing last weeks report and seeing whether he could add something just a little more inspiring to it, when Commander Hatch approached. "Ensign, it has come to my attention that you could use a little assistance with your current project." Harry Kim was about to protest when out from behind the Commander stepped a familiar face "May I introduce Lieutenant Reginald Barclay. He will be your direct line manager. Please bring him up to speed with a full brief. I expect a detailed proposal for the next phase of the project on my desk by 0900 tomorrow morning." With that Hatch matched off and Harry was left facing Reg. "I hear you are rather partial to using the holodecks in your spare time? I am also quite adept at doing so for my research, as I suspect you already know. Perhaps we will work well together?" For the first time in many months Harry Kim felt the faint glimmer of renewed hope. He smiled at Reg "Let me fill you in..."

—-

Chakotay sat on his sofa staring at the old crumpled card in his hand.

Tessa Omond, Assistant Correspondent, Diplomatic Office, Federation News Service.

It had been over two months since that final briefing by Brand and Nechayev. Even the infamous Janeway name would only release so many funds and divert so much manpower and precious resources. Bottom line, they were searching for, at best, a fossilised ship and a dead crew. At worst, they had all been vaporised as they were flung out of the slipstream and they were chasing no more than ghosts. To be honest, he was amazed that the search had not been officially wound up years ago. Perhaps it was just how emotive the story had been. Thought lost for ever back in 2371 only to rise as a Phoenix from the ashes, thanks to some ancient communications array that the Hirogen had annexed for themselves, four years later to much rejoicing back home. At the time the Dominion War had been in full swing and they needed a beacon of hope. Some light at the end of the tunnel. Voyager had provided just that. Then, less than a year later, for them to be lost without trace - with only himself and Harry as evidence they had really existed out there in the DQ all along...it just seemed too cruel a twist of fate. So The Brass had swung into action with - initially at least - extensive resources diverted to the search. Only they had no idea really where to search. Their technology was not adapted to detect the residue of the slipstream itself and by the time they had made the necessary modifications, any trace of the sub space disturbance had dissipated. One expedition after another for four years and ...nothing. Oh there were rumours, false trails, a fair number of pieces of debris from the War mistakenly believed to be from Voyager...but, ultimately, nothing. Then two years ago the project had been downgraded and passed to Admiral Brand. He had been Nechayev's mentor when she was a young officer and he had known Kathryn's father well : apparently. So he had taken on the futile mission. More for public relations than anything. If the search was to be mothballed it first had to fade from the public's consciousness. Brand had done a good job there and so - inevitably - had the passage of time. They were all yesterday's news and had been for quite some time.

He had not been surprised when only one young reporter and an even younger, greener assistant had turned up on Christmas Eve to cover the formal closure announcement. Perhaps the only suprise was that she had bothered to give him her card. She probably would not want to follow it up now, having had a couple of months to think better of it. But...Harry was still suffering and if he could set the record straight...even if just to this one person...perhaps it did not matter in the greater scheme of things but it would be nice to give the Voyagers. He corrected himself, Kathryn Janeway, a fitting epitaph. He hit the Comm channel and asked for a patch through to Tessa Omond's office.

—-

Well, for better or worse, here she was at the university bar on a cold Wednesday evening at the beginning of March. Waiting for Dr. Chakotay. She gathered from the contact details she had been given for him that he taught 'Comparative Anthropology & Archaeology' part time at Caltech to keep his nose above water. She had done a little basic research on the man before this meeting. They had both had a hard time since their return in that shuttle. Ensign Harry Kim had remained in Starfleet, not knowing any other way to live. Commander Chakotay had resigned his field commission almost the minute he got back and vanished off the radar for a year or so. There were rumours he had returned to his former colony, Dorvan V, for a while but nothing substantial. About eighteen months back he had obtained his current position. Again the details were vague at best. Now, for some reason she could not yet fathom, he had agreed to meet her here tonight. To tell his story.

Just then a shadow passed across her glass and the polished wood of the bar. He had approached her with the stealth of a large cat and she was reminded of his Maquis past. "My round I believe." She glanced up to see him settle on the bar stool beside her. "So you want to hear the unabridged story of what brought Harry and I home? Well for that I need to tell you about a truly unique, and very special person. But first I need a drink or two, and perhaps we can find somewhere a little more discreet..." he gestured towards one of the cubicles towards the back of the room. She nodded and followed him.

Once they were seated and had had a good half a glass of whisky each, he began. "Let me tell you about a certain Captain Kathryn Janeway, scratch that..." he looked past her, seeing ghosts in the recesses of his mind and maybe the depths of the gloom outside the window "let me tell you about Kathryn. The most remarkable human being I have ever met and the only woman I will truly love until the end of my days..."

As the sun rose the following morning they were still sitting there. Tessa knew she had met a truly exceptional man and had a story that she would probably never write. But every journalistic - and womanly - instinct was telling her: this was not the end.

—-

Eight years later...

The tell tale flux in the CMB - that's cosmic microwave background - Harry elaborates for Tessa's benefit, it has to be Voyager's departure pint from the slipstream. It was a real fluke they stumbled across it. A relic from the past no one in the late twenty fourth century would bother to investigate. A bit like like Voyager herself...he thought, bitterly. Enough Harry, focus. He looked hopefully between Chakotay and Tessa. He had to persuade them to back him up. "As you know, Reg has helped me in his spare time these past eight years. We've tried everything. Tachyon field eddies; neutrino inversion matrices; muon resonance variables. You name it, we have searched, again and again. Nothing other than the dark energy field dip where the Delta Flyer was left travelling alone. Obviously the slipstream narrowed after Voyager's ejection..."

As Harry talked Tessa gave Chakotay a worried look. She could see from his eyes that he was thinking the same thing. How many times had they been back here with Harry? How many hunches that had come to nothing? She knew that Chakotay had long ago made an uneasy peace with his new life. He had told her that once, when stranded on an uninhabited planet with Kathryn Janeway, near the beginning of their journey...that he could not sacrifice the present for a future that may never happen. They had been trapped on that planet for eleven weeks at that point but his former Captain had refused to face the reality of their situation until all her scientific tools had been destroyed by a plasma storm. Karma perhaps? After that she had accepted the wisdom of Chakotay's viewpoint and started to enjoy the new possibilities that lay ahead. Only for the impossible to happen and them to be 'rescued' against all odds. This situation had similarities. Only this time it was Harry still hoping for that miracle which would snatch him and Chakotay back to a ship full of living, breathing family. In a far flung corner of the DQ in a long extinct past. Only this time she and Chakotay knew the miraculous rescue would never come. It was all in Harry's head.

Chakotay grimaced. His turn to try and talk some sense into Harry. "It's certainly an intriguing theory but hardly enough to warrant trekking all the way out to the lambda sector for. Harry, that's six months out at maximum warp. You can't possibly expect Starfleet to expend resources on a hunch. A hunch at that, that you and Reg have been investigating out of hours using unauthorised resources. Starfleet mothballed the investigation and wrote off the considerable fiscal loss over eight years ago. It's time to let this go." He did his best to look sympathetic but, to be honest, this was wearing him down. Perhaps, for his and Tessa's sanity, they should move away. Put a little distance between themselves and a past that refused to stay silent.

Harry was aghast. He knew they would be sceptical, but Chakotay wasn't even really listening! "I know what you are thinking, but this time it's different. It was Reg Barclay who made the discovery. Not me. And we weren't even working on the Voyager problem at the time. Actually, that was one of my worse days. You know how it is. I was in a black mood and felt like finally throwing in the towel. So initially I told Reg to forget it. He kept insisting this was a real lead but I wouldn't listen. So he left the findings on my console back in my quarters. Later that night, as `I was checking messages I found it. Not being able to sleep I decided I may as well look at what he was blathering on about. I'm so glad `I did. Everything fits. A bulge in the dark matter density and a corresponding dip in dark energy and this!"

At that point he passed a PADD to Chakotay with the CMB map for the region he was discussing. There was a surge of nation particles in the exact shape of Voyager! This was either a very sick joke that someone was playing or they had hit gold.

Tessa looked over Chakotay's shoulder. "Is that what I think it is?" Harry grabbed her arm "YES!" She glanced between the two men. "I think you have to go to Starfleet with this, Harry." Chakotay still looked unsure. "Wait. Harry, who else knows about this?"

Harry seemed surprised he would ask. "Just Reg and us. Of course, I came to you first..."

Chakotay doubted that Starfleet would want to open up an old wound chasing a nadion particle ghost. Not all the way out there. And all this potentially proved was the exit point from the slipstream. There was no way of knowing whether there was anything tangible to recover. He squeezed Harry's shoulders "I agree. It's worth investigating. To us. Let me sleep on this and we'll talk tomorrow. Bring Reg round for supper after work would you?"

At last! The waiting was over. They were going to fix things. Oh he had a plan for sorting out the timeline. He had had fourteen years to get those calculations right and he was sure of them now. They just needed to get to Voyager to put his plan into action. But first things first. He needed Chakotay to agree to join him on the mission. And for that they would need the Delta Flyer. A shuttle that he no longer had access to... "Great. We both look forward to seeing you tomorrow. Remember Reg is allergic to garlic but anything else veggie is fine." With that, Harry almost ran off back to his hover car.

She looked at Chakotay. "You are thinking of heading out there with him aren't you?" He knew the risks. They would have to steal the Flyer. Be fugitives again. Back to his old Maquis ways... But could he pass up the chance to find what was left of Voyager. Maybe even the crew...HER...the chance to give Kathryn a decent burial.

Tessa put a hand on his arm. They had been through so much and she had grown to love this man dearly. "If you do decide to go, count me in. I'm coming with you."

As Chakotay looked into Tessa's warm brown eyes he was transported back to a dinner table long, long ago. He was looking into the eyes of the woman sitting opposite him and she had just asked him whether he was prepared to take the ultimate gamble with her. Was he with her? He had replied...always. Well, he had a promise to keep to Kathryn, but he thanked his lucky stars that he had found the one other woman in the universe who would do the same for him. "We'll see Tessa. Let's see what tomorrow brings." And with that they headed for bed. Although never would sleep a wink, she knew.

—-

Dinner was delicious although no one had much of an appetite. They were all far too tense. Whilst Reg had been more than happy to discover Voyager's possible location for Harry he had envisaged then going through official channels and hopefully obtaining permission to investigate further. On official time. Very best case scenario would have been for an Admiral to divert a nearby Starship to do a sweep of the Lambda sector within a light year or two of the nadion particle signature. After all they were still looking for a needle in a proverbial haystack. The haystack had just gone from being infinitesimally large to about ten light years across, give or take a light year or two. Hardly sufficient progress for what Harry had in mind! Reginald Barclay looked from Harry to Chakotay and back. He was worried. "You can't be serious. Even if you got permission to board a starship headed for that sector, and then got the Captain to lend you a shuttlecraft, Voyager could be anywhere. There are over forty solar systems in that region of space. That's over two hundred planets where there could be debris. Harry we don't yet have enough data. We need more time. Perhaps we can eventually track the nadion particle disturbance...narrow down the search area a bit..."

Harry was livid. "It's been FOURTEEN YEARS! If we give it any more time Chakotay and I will have died of old age. Then who is going to look for them. Who else will bother...or care enough..."

Chakotay sympathised. He really did. Last night he had high hopes but now, sitting here, listening to Reg logically discussing the facts (like a certain Vulcan he used to know) he had to conclude Reg was right. This was a fool's errand to nowhere. He was no longer a member of Starfleet at all, hadn't been for fourteen years. Harry was just an Ensign who would never now be promoted. Too unstable and fixated on the past. Impossible dreams. Never achieving much of note in the present. Certainly not enough to win him a promotion. And who in their right mind within Starfleet Command would lend the Delta Flyer to a middle aged Ensign to head off for who knew how long...to follow a hunch?...

Tessa watched it play out. She knew where this was headed and decided to smooth things over. "Your idea of pursuing the nadion particle trail sounds a really sensible one Reg. I'm sure that if we could narrow the search area down, then we could consider approaching the powers that be. If they knew where to divert a Starship to...they may just agree to a sweep..." she looked pointedly at Chakotay to back her up.

"Tessa's right. It's getting late and I'm sure you must be tired. Thanks so much for coming around Reg and explaining all your findings. We are very grateful aren't we Harry?"

Harry could see that he had got as far as he was going to that night. And he did owe Reg. Big time. Besides, it was better if Reg thought he was going to let things lie. Oh, he had no intention of giving up. He would take the Delta Flyer, by himself if necessary, but he was still hoping that Chakotay would come around over the next few days. As much as he was fond of Reginald Barclay, he was not truly one of them. He had not been out there, for five years, lost in the DQ with only his fellow crew mates to form his entire world. Better to play along. "Of course. Your idea is a great one Reg. we'll get started on it tomorrow as soon as we have a break from our official work. It's late and we should leave Chakotay and Tessa in peace. Thanks for a great meal guys."

With that they headed for the cloakroom and Chakotay saw them both out. When he came back into the kitchen Tessa put the dishes down and stared at him. They both knew. The decision was made. They would be leaving with Harry on the Delta Flyer as soon as Chakotay could work out how to acquire it. She hoped that the spirit of Kathryn Janeway, wherever she was, appreciated it.

—-

Thirteen days later...

Earlier today he had felt ecstatic, now he was very worried indeed. He and Harry had finally narrowed the search down to the Orbes solar system. It had taken a few days but it had finally dawned on himself to inverse the polarity of the nadion signature and then overlay it on the CMB map. Sure enough there was the equivalent of a Terran airplane vapour trail. So faint that if you did not know you were looking for it, you would miss it altogether. But it led straight into the Orbes system. There were only two solid core planets orbiting that sun. Both way too far out to support liquid water, or life. Two ice planets and one gas giant which was so far out that the gravitational pull of the sun was only just enough to hold it in orbit. Reginald had eliminated the gas giant as a possibility. If Voyager had broken up there they would be able to detect the rare metal traces, and Seven's Borg technology gave off a unique molecular fingerprint. He and Harry had carried out extensive scans overnight and ...nothing. That left the two ice planets, imaginatively named OBZ 001 and OBZ 002. Reginald had then called in a favour with an old friend who just happened to be an assistant attaché to Fleet Admiral Hortencia to enquire whether there were any starships within the Lambda sector...especially within a few days travel of the Orbes system. Apparently not. The nearest research vessel was the U.S. but she was a short range survey ship and at least a month away at her maximum speed of warp 5.1. Harry's initial enthusiasm seemed to turn - bizarrely - to indifference? ! ... He had tried to shrug it off, Harry had been disappointed enough times before, after all. But something just didn't feel right. Well, it was no good sitting here fantasising again. He may as well pop over to Harry's apartment and check he was okay.

No reply. He had been standing here for five minutes. The computer had confirmed Harry was in there. What if he had done something foolish...perhaps he needed medical assistance. Reg wavered then called the computer for an emergency beam in. All he found was Harry's Comm badge on the desk. The apartment was empty. Reg was just about to leave when he spotted that the console was still powered up at Harry's workstation. He went over, intending to put it in standby mode, when he saw what was on the screen. Calculations. Hundreds of them. Navigational correctors for travelling in a sub space eddy current. Instantly Reg knew what these were. He looked more closely. No. They were wrong. Harry had left out a recurring fractal. It was obvious to Reg but then he was less sleep deprived. Less obsessed with redeeming himself...and resurrecting the dead. That is what Harry had in mind. Which could mean only one thing...

In a panic Reg checked the locations of Chakotay and the Delta Flyer. Both missing. As he had feared. His best friend, Harry, was about to embark on a mission, doomed to fail. Even if by some miracle, he found Voyager intact on one of those ice worlds. He would be court martialled and both he and Chakotay would spend the rest of their lives on a Federation penal colony. What to do? ...then it came to him. "Computer, open a secure channel to the U.S. . Priority One message to Captain Geordi la Forge from Lieutenant Reginald Barclay." He just hoped Geordi could get to them in time...

—-

It was all Chakotay could do to hold the Flyer together, travelling at this speed. When she was a new shuttlecraft she would have coped well with warp 8.3 but now, after having sat in space dock, idling away for well over a decade she was about as reliable as the Val Jean had been. Funny how life came full circle he mused. At least they only had two possible planets to survey when they reached the Orbes system. It would take another nine days at least. That was assuming that the ship held together and the engines did not burn out. He would have felt far more confident if they had B'Elanna with them. Instead there was only Harry. Chakotay's Engineering skills were rusty to say the least and `Tessa was a journalist. She shouldn't really be here at all. She was here to provide moral support for the two of them. For him. As always. If they got caught, then she would share the same punishment as them. For what? Chakotay doubted they would find any wreckage big enough to identify. Assuming they made it to the planets at all and had enough power for two full surface sweeps. Well, they were out here now. The die was cast. He just hoped it would bring them some answers.

—-

One day out. That's all. And now this. Harry had just informed them of his audacious plan for when they found Voyager. Intact, of course! , with everyone aboard just waiting to be re-animated. Tessa had been hopeful that they would find something. On one of those two planets. Just enough to put the puzzle to bed once and for all. If she was honest, she had wanted to write that final piece. A conclusion to the story and the chance to finally create an epitaph to Chakotay's Kathryn. That was why he was out here. Closure. The not knowing - all these years - that had been the hardest part. And his breaking of his promise to Kathryn. As he saw it. Oh, Harry blames himself for getting the calculations wrong, all those years ago. Had crazy dreams of re-setting the clock and making it all go away. Like a bad dream. ...But it was Chakotay who still had the night terrors. You see, it had been his fault all along. He was the First Officer, and as such, the only person who could have talked the Captain out of using the slipstream drive. He had half heartedly tried. They had all seen the results of Paris and Kim's multiple disasterous holodeck simulations. They all knew it was a suicide mission to engage the drive. Perhaps the Captain and Commander most of all. Harry had begged of course, desperate to take any long shot, however impossible the odds, to get home. But he had just been a green Ensign on his first assignment aboard a Starship. Kathryn and Chakotay had more than thirty years Command experience between them. She had asked him "are you with me?" . He had meant to convey his undying love and loyalty by replying "Always". Instead he had signed their death warrants. As far as Chakotay was concerned, in his nightmares, he had pulled the trigger himself. Many times - over and over - his had been the hand that had killed the woman he loved. His soulmate.

When they had first started dating, he had been cool, standoffish, almost cold. Whenever she had gotten a little too close. Of they had a sex life, of sorts, but she was never allowed to stay the night. Never allowed to lay next to him whilst he slept. Then one day the inevitable happened. One glass of wine too many perhaps...they made love and he fell asleep...and then it began...

She had comforted him as best she could. He had been deeply embarrassed. Felt humiliated for being so exposed. Eventually he had opened up to her, expecting that to be the catalyst that ended their relationship. But it had had the opposite effect on her. She was in awe of his ability to love that deeply. Yes, the love was for another woman, never her. But that was okay. If he felt just a fraction for her of the bottomless love he held for Kathryn then she was a far luckier woman than most. When Chakotay eventually realised this they became an item. Moved in together. Oh, he still had the night terrors from time to time, but they happened less often and she was always there to calm and re-assure him when he woke. She had become his rock. And what did she get in return? A deep devotion from him. It was more than enough.

She had come on this crazy mission of Harry's because she had been curious. If he succeeded in finding Voyager intact, she desperately wanted to set eyes on the mythical Kathryn Janeway. Behold what was left of the woman who could capture Chakotay's heart so completely. Maybe, just maybe, that would happen. But she had never banked on this. Harry dismantling the body of Seven, hopefully reactivating the holographic Doctor then somehow sending the correct phase corrections back into the past and ...changing all of history. If he did succeed then the last fifteen years would vanish in the blink of an eye. She would never have met Chakotay that fateful night, over nine years ago. Their relationship erased forever. But as she sat here, watching the two men initially arguing, then reaching consensus...she could see it in Chakotay's eyes too. The desperate hope...Kathryn, alive and vital again. Loving him back. The way he had never stopped loving her. Tessa's mind was made up. If it was at all possible she would do all in her power to make it happen. She would always have just a shadow of the man, but Kathryn had had all of him. The once vital and courageous warrior she could see re-emerging as they approached Orbes 2. Then Harry shouted for joy. Jackpot! Chakotay manoeuvred the Delta Flyer into a geosynchronous orbit and they kitted up with their thermal gear. Then beamed directly down to the co-ordinates. Five minutes later Chakotay contacted her on the Flyer "Tessa, she's here. Voyager is tight beneath us. Beam down with the cutting gear..."

—

They had finally made it through to the Bridge and she was exhausted. Very few of the ship's power cells had any juice left in them so they had had to manually haul all the doors and access ports open and done a lot of crawling through ice encrusted Jeffries Tubes. But they had made it. Harry was at his old Ops panel trying to get life support up and running and sensors too. He was determined to find the Doctor's holo-emitter to put his plan into action. She remained standing in the doorway, her attention now riveted on Chakotay. He had found HER. It had to be. He had not moved in over three minutes. He had knelt down next to her body and gently brushed the frost from her face. Tessa kept back, behind him, she did not want to intrude. But she could see his eyes from here, reflected in the ice on the bulkhead opposite that served as a mirror. He had never looked at her like that...what she would have given to have that power over him...

One thing was certain in this universe. If ever two people were destined to be together it was Chakotay and his Kathryn. If she had to die to bring that about so be it. She could think of no better epitaph.

THE END

19


End file.
